I was just reading the Easy Marketing Blog’s entry on how to achieve the viral marketing apex using mobile phones. I do believe that the springboard of viral marketing has a lot to do with the consumer wanting to create a buzz. If there was no incentive, then why bother?

A lot of free viral marketing does happen over the Internet - yes they do not get paid to post about products and services and campaigns - but that’s because the incentives are not quantified in terms of cold cash. Instead, these “grassroots viral marketers” are in it for the prestige, the “being part of something” feeling, and because they believe that spreading the word forms part of their web site’s advocacy.
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Yeah, like I was really expecting it.

I think it’s too early for Apple to pull a fast one and come up with a new product like a smartphone. As to what ancestry it should come from, whether it should be more iPod than phone, or more phone than iPod or more MacBook than phone, only time will tell.

Really nice Mac Pro though.

Got a chance to play with the Nokia 3250 “twist” phone. A rogue among all of Nokia’s designs, this SOLID candybar phone allows you to twist the bottom part of the unit’s real estate in three iterations for phone mode, shooting mode and music mode.

Perhaps the biggest question on the minds of readers would be whether the twisting mechanism provides a good UI compliment for phone and multimedia. The answer is that it wins 2/3 times failing in the realm of the camera. Tilting the bottom half perpendicular to the screen makes it a bit uncomfy for taking shots since the “shoot me!” button is naturally programmed as the 5-way joystick. If you use your right hand, you’d feel awkward. If you use your left hand, you’d cover the screen. Of course you can always shoot using the standard candybar mode but you’d have to press buttons instead of flipping the phone - which is like, the coolest thing.

The music player is semi-decent. It must be noted that the 3250 comes with a set of In-ears which is a huge plus. The big minus is that the expansion card slot is located NOT on the side of the phone but between the flipping mechanisms. It was sooo hard to locate and open.

[Full specs here]

Peter Kennedy, formerly of Sony Ericsson, may be doing a silent but deadly over at Apple with the release of a patent that may very well be the first iPhone. From a consumer point of view, the Zen of Apple can only be unified with the Tao of Sony Ericsson. Couple this with Palm’s hakuna-matata and you get the triumvirate of gadget nirvana. So with a Sony Ericsson guy working on some human interface designs for Apple - for phones, we may soon see something quite interesting this 2006.

Peter Kennedy leaves a very small footprint on the internet- probably because the people he works for value his silence and reticence. There are a number of Patent applications floating out in the ether with his name on them. Prior to working for Apple it seems Kennedy worked on projects for both IBM and SONY ERICSSON. What could Apple want with someone with an interest in User interfaces for phones? cough iPhone… new video iPod?

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I thought I’d have a really boring weekend at home. Turns out I got a really interesting package in the mail just waiting for me to give her a click! So its weekend fun with the Nokia N90. Other sites have given really long reviews of the phones capabilities. I’ll do a show and tell of how good (or how bad?) the images are.

Recap - The Nokia N90 has a 2.o megapixel camera fitted with a Carl Zeiss lens

The picture shown above was taken in macro mode (see link below for full sized image). I was able to take shots clearly from one inch from the subject. Not bad for a camera phone. Overall, the N90’s camera is slightly better than the W800i’s because images are slightly more crisp (thanks to Mr. Zeiss). Available shooting modes include auto focus, macro, night shot, and sports (fast moving stuff). At 2 megapixels, images are around and have a resolution of 1600×1200.

Here is a non-compromised shot I’ve got on macro. The lens was about half an inch from the piece of wood.

It takes a few seconds for sunlight and glare to resolve but it can be put to a creative advantage.

In partial light night mode. Zero light night shot here with flash.

This is a sample of the portrait mode. Nothing visibly different from automatic shooting, but I use it anyway. Oh, that’s Hondo, my trusty sidekick (because all heroes need a sidekick!)

Compare these to a sample portrait photo from the W800i.

You can check out the full res camera shots on my Photobook site.

If you can spare a few seconds, try checking out these feeds from CTIA 2005. We got some CNET editors giving their 30 second commentary on the SE W600a, Motorola Q, Nokia N90, LG’s F7200 and the contraversial Treo 700w.

Now, I’m not CNET editor - I’m the C9 editor! So that means aside from being the life of the party, I get to do my own rundown of some of these products from the lifestyle perspective.

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The lucky guys over at Engadget were able to get a few hours to dance with Palm’s Treo 700w, the very first mobile device to break barriers between rival operating systems. The rumor mill has been churning out a lot of stuff about the 700w, formerly known as the Treo 670 from the company formerly known as pa1mOne. Now it’s finally here, in all it’s Windows Mobile 5.0 glory!

I guess with Palm’s Cobalt still in the drawing board, the devs just decided to use Windows, because Cobalt = Windows Mobile. Its really just the same thing. Heh.

This development will bring a huge impact on the Asian market. It is here where Windows Mobile devices, at least in general, are not at par with Palm’s efficient tech support. This is big news - a Windows Mobile platform that supports very good Palm warranty support. Wowzers!

But then again, it may still be too early to tell - so we just have to sit back and enjoy the show.

From Engadget

I recently came from a three day mobile tech expo and was curious to find a huge group of geeks (like me!) huddled around the Windows Mobile booth. I tried to push myself through the sweaty crowd to find a man showing off a new Windows Mobile 5.0 device in all its OEM glory - fully functional, no brand, no distributor. it looked like the XDA II Mini (popularized by 02) but slightly thicker.

I grabbed my camera to take a shot but when the evil demo guy saw me whip out my Olympus, he grabbed the unit and with some sleight of hand, stuffed it somewhere never to be seen again. Oh noes, my bad.

What I just saw was the rumored XDA II Mini Pro, a Wi-Fi enabled Windows Mobile 5.0 device that also comes with a thumb board, which reveals itself from the left side of the unit. Ingenious! The side-popping (surprise!) keypad takes advantage of Windows Mobile 5.0’s landscape view, so you can use the XDA II Mini Pro as a mobile office (landscape mode) or as a phone / PDA (portrait mode) with a lot of ease.

Paparazzi details from CNET Asia

Engadget has posted a high traffic FAQ on the HTC Universal. Damn. I’ve noticed how the headsets in most convergence phones are being replaced by 3.5mm jacks - the HTC is no exception. Thus, it would be way easier to make calls with a BT-enabled headset. The Universal will ship with Bluetooth 1.2 unfortunately, not with the state of the art 2.0 upgrade. Sucks? Well not really. This is a handheld first and foremost, so hopefully you won’t be doing a lot of huge file sharing.

Courtesy of Engadget

With the launch of the iTunes ROKR phone, the SE Walkman W800i, the announcement of the Nokia N91, plus the various digital music software for the Palm OS and Windows Mobile platforms, I’d wonder when a full-fledged MP3 player will cease to exist.

Some may wonder why the ROKR doesn’t live up to Apple’s design - let’s face the music coz’ it kinda sucks compared to everything else Apple has released design-wise. A move perhaps to focus on the iPod, a full fledged digital music player? Nah, I think it has more to do with copyright stuff.

Apple isn’t afraid of phones that can play digital music. And I personally don’t think these phones will replace these HD and flashed-based players.

“A mobile phone-based player doesn’t offer much to a high-volume music consumer. The convenience of having to carry one device less will usually be outweighed by the design compromises that result”, said Canalys analyst Rachel Lashford. “And a heavy user isn’t going to pay a premium to download each track over the air to a phone when there are cheaper service alternatives that offer a more sophisticated browsing experience, interface and file management.”

via The Register

Here’s a small piece from my friend Art on why convergence devices won’t make it in the long run.

In marketing, there is a principle known as the Principle of Focus, which says that you can only be known for one thing. And you should stick to it, because the market will only remember you for one thing and for one thing alone.

via m|ph blog